If this idea of the immortality of the soul should
excite a smile, is it more extraordinary than the
belief which obtains among some of us, that at the
last day the various disjointed bones of men shall
find out each its proper owner, and be re-united?
The savage here treads close upon the footsteps of
the Christian.

The natives who inhabit the harbour to the northward,
called by us Port Stephens, believed that five white
men who were cast away among them (as has been before
shown) had formerly been their countrymen, and took
one of them to the grave where, he told him, the body
he at that time occupied had been interred. If
this account, given us by men who may well be supposed
to deal in the marvellous, can be depended upon, how
much more ignorant are the natives of Port Stephens,
who live only thirty leagues to the northward of us,
than the natives of and about Port Jackson!

The young people who resided in our houses were very
desirous of going to church on Sundays, but knew not
for what purpose we attended. I have often seen
them take a book, and with much success imitate the
clergyman in his manner (for better and readier mimics
can no where be found), laughing and enjoying the
applause which they received.

I remember to have seen in a newspaper or pamphlet
an account of a native throwing himself in the way
of a man who was about to shoot a crow; and the person
who wrote the account drew an inference, that the bird
was an object of worship: but I can with confidence
affirm, that so far from dreading to see a crow killed,
they are very fond of eating it, and take the following
particular method to ensnare that bird: a native
will stretch himself on a rock as if asleep in the
sun, holding a piece of fish in his open hand; the
bird, be it hawk or crow, seeing the prey, and not
observing any motion in the native, pounces on the
fish, and, in the instant of seizing it, is caught
by the native, who soon throws him on the fire and
makes a meal of him.

That they have ideas of a distinction between good
and bad is evident from their having terms
in their language significant of these qualities.
Thus, the sting-ray was (wee-re) bad; it was a fish
of which they never ate. The patta-go-rang or
kangaroo was (bood-yer-re) good, and they ate it whenever
they were fortunate enough to kill one of these animals.

To exalt these people at all above the brute creation,
it is necessary to show that they had the gift of
reason, and that they knew the distinction between
right and wrong, as well as between what
food was good and what was bad. Of these latter
qualities their senses informed them; but the knowledge
of right and wrong could only proceed from reason.
It is true, they had no distinction in terms for these
qualities—­wee-re and bood-yer-re alike
implying what was good and bad, and right and wrong.
Instances however were not wanting of their using them